Live: Tharoor's wife furious at women protesters for heckling him

The progress of a state or nation is possible only when its women progress, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said today.

"A society is strong when its women are strong. Only if the socio-economic status of women in our society is strengthened will the pace of development speed up," Gogoi said here on International Women's Day.

"Though our society has progressed considerably, yet there is a section of women who are backward socio-economically and facing various problems due to it," Gogoi said.

He said that top priority has to be given to make women economically independent for which the government was making them aware of their rights.

He said that the government would take up additional schemes for poor and needy women and was also laying emphasis on health-care for the mother and the girl child.

6.15 pm:

Tharoor's wife furious at women protesters for heckling him

While Shashi Tharoor was on his way to an event in Delhi to mark International Women's Day, his car was blocked by BJP women protesters who kept banging on it with their hands.

They were protesting against the lack of safety for women in Delhi.

Reacting to the incident, Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar said, "Why are they making noise? What wrong has he done? I am told that they have damaged his car. We did not like this behaviour." Tharoor was later seen sitting in the audience.

5.30 pm:

Sibal inaugurates first all women post office

On the occasion of the International Women's Day, Union Communications & IT Minister Kapil Sibal inaugurated India's first All Women Employees Post Office at Shastri Bhawan here on Friday.

This office is a Project Arrow Office and has three counters.

Two counters offer Multi Purpose services like booking of Speed Post, Registration, Sale of IPOs, Booking of Money Orders etc. and one counter is for Sale of Stamps.

All these counters of this Post Office will now be manned by women employees only.

4.45 pm:

Our heads hang in shame over crime against women: Sonia

Amid rising cases of crime against women, Congress president Sonia Gandhi Friday said "our heads hang in shame" due to recurring incidents of rapes and other violence against women.

Flagging concerns about female foeticide and crime against women, Gandhi exhorted women not to bow down to difficulties in future and face them with courage as the country needs them at all responsible positions.

3.50 pm:

'Lankan Navy men put chilli powder in our eyes'

Four fishermen from Puducherry have alleged they were attacked by Sri Lankan Coast Guard personnel just off the Kodiakarai coast last night.

The fishermen alleged that the Lankan navy personnel threw chilli powder in their eyes, beat them up and dumped their equipment, worth Rs 15 lakh, in the sea.

The fishermen had ventured out to sea on March 2 on a fibreglass boat.

However, the Lankan Navy rubbished media reports that said its personnel attacked Indian fishermen off the Kodiakarai coast.

3.20 pm:

CPI blames telecast of IPL cheerleaders for crime against women

When the Lok Sabha debated the issue of crimes against women, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the society is to be blamed for the plight of women, CNN-IBN reported.

Dasgupta went on to say that the telecast of women as objects, like the IPL cheerleaders, was to blame.

He said that programmes that depicted women as objects should be banned.

1.40 pm:

10 killed in mishap in Rajouri

Ten people were today killed and twenty others injured when a bus in which they were travelling rolled down into a deep gorge in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The passenger bus, which was on its way from Kandi to Rajouri, skidded off the road and rolled down into the deep gorge at Mandir Gala area in Rajouri district this afternoon, police officials said.

In the mishap, ten people were killed and twenty others injured, they said.

Speaking on the issue in the Assembly, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Transport, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan said that rescue operation has been launched in the area under the supervision of DIG Rajouri-Poonch.

He expressed sympathy with the family members of the deceased and has directed administration to provide best medical facilities to the injured.

1.20 pm:

Woman lifts 6kg dumbells with vagina

Russian gymnast Tatyana Kozhevnikova holds the Guinness World Record for "vagina weightlifting," and can pick up an incredible 14kg kettlebell using just her nether regions

In a footage from 'The Body Shocking Show,' Kozhevnikova is seen lifting 6kg dumbbells - equivalent to the weight of two melons - using only the muscles in her vagina, the Sun reported.

Chinese cinephiles have cause for celebration after government censors lifted a ban on the popular IMDb (Internet Movie Database) web site, which had been blocked for more than three years, the South China Morning Post reported.

Beijing had given no official explanation for blocking the site in January 2010 and did not say why it was available for viewing again Wednesday.

Some web users say the IMDb may have irked Chinese authorities by featuring a preview of "When the Dragon Swallowed the Sun" - a documentary about the Free Tibet movement led by the Dalai Lama - on its home page.

Around 25 female presenters for public broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) have accused some of their senior executives of sexual harassment, Headlines Today reported.

The RJs at AIR FM Gold and Rainbow in their complaint to the Delhi Commission for Women, alleged that they were subjected to sexual innuendos and advances for the last two years.

The RJs alleged that they were being treated unfairly, and were given fewer shows to host if they spurned sexual advances.

They also alleged that no action was taken even when senior officials were notified.

11.10 am:

Kerala church bans Suryanelli gangrape victim, family

A church in Kerala has asked the Suryanelli gangrape victim and her relatives to stay away from the ceremonies conducted in its premises.

According to media reports, the church advised the family to stay away about two weeks ago saying as people in the area have come to know the identity of the rape victim and her family it is better they stay away till the controversy surrounding the case ends.

The mother of the victim told this to a TV channel on Thursday. A report in a media however said that Vijaypuram diocese bishop has said that there is no such ban.

10.11 am:

Anti-Posco stir: Women protesters threaten to strip

At a time when the world celebrates the International Women's Day, hundreds of women from Odisha's Govindpur and Dhinkia villages are locked up in a bitter battle with the state government over the acquisition of land for the Posco Steel project, Zeenews reports.

Reports, Friday, claimed that a large number of women from all age group yesterday clashed with police and some stripped partially protesting the acquisition of land for the controversial Posco steel project.

9.37 am:

Bikers allegedly molest woman journalist; police tell her not to travel at night

CNN IBN reports: A lady journalist of an English newspaper was allegedly molested in Delhi on Wednesday night. The journalist was on her way home from her office in South Delhi when two bikers allegedly molested her in Mansarovar Park of Northwest Delhi.

The journalist who was riding a scooter was overtaken and stopped by two bikers who passed lewd comments and tried to pull her towards them. What is even more shocking is the police apathy.

When the journalist went with her father to the nearest police station to lodge an FIR, the police there tried to counsel her by saying that it was not advisable for women to step out at night. No arrests have been made yet.

9.12 am

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko are travelling to Caracas to attend the funeral of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, state television in Minsk reported.

9.11 am:

United Nations approves new sanctions against North Korea

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, and a furious Pyongyang threatened a nuclear strike against the United States.

8.48 am:

Former president APJ Abdul Kalam to teach students of IIM-Shillong

Former president APJ Abdul Kalam will teach students of the Indian Institute of Management-Shillong a course titled "Societal transformation bio-technology and its application".

"I am a teacher. As a professor, wherever knowledge takes me, I go. I like meeting young people and I would like to contribute to their knowledge," Kalam told IANS

8.45 am:

India is the sixth most favourable nation for Americans, while at least eight out of 10 do not like Pakistan, making it the third most unfavourable nation after Iran and Korea, according to a latest poll.

8.32 am:

Findings of a survey commissioned by TOI on the public and private lives of Delhi's women reveals:

Nine out of 10 women feel Delhi is unsafe or very unsafe for them.

Two-thirds have experienced misbehaviour on the city's streets.

Two-thirds work in offices where there is no mechanism to deal with sexual harassment.

Close to half feel they were discriminated against during the division of parental property.

8.19 am:

US captures Osama bin Laden's son-in-law in Jordan

Osama bin Laden's son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was seized by CIA agents and taken to the United States after Turkey deported him to Jordan this month, a media report said.

Abu Ghaith, the former spokesman of the al Qaeda network, was seized last month at a luxury hotel in Ankara after a tip-off from CIA and was held there by the police despite a US request for his extradition.

8.15 am:

NY millionaire on trial for keeping an Indian 'slave'

A woman, who is on trial for allegedly keeping an Indian immigrant as slave in her mansion in upstate New York, told jurors that her late husband made every important decision during the time she allegedly forced her former employee to work as an illegal servant.

Annie George, 40, faces up to 10 years in prison and a USD 250,000 fine if convicted in US District Court of harbouring an illegal alien for financial gain.

Federal prosecutors say George's ex-servant, Valsamma Mathai, 49, from Kerala worked illegal 17 to 18 hour shifts with no time off and no sick leave in three homes for the Georges, the last being the 30,000-square-feet Llenroc mansion in Rexford, where she slept in a closet.

8.00 am:

President extends wishes on International Women's Day

"On the occasion of the International Women's Day, I extend my warm greetings and felicitations to the women of India for their monumental role in shaping the destiny of the nation. Celebrations of this day on March 8 is an opportunity to dedicate ourselves to ensuring the safety and security of women. We must strive for a world based on gender equality and justice. Women must be given their due and treated with respect and dignity," he said in a statement.

"Women are always a source of inspiration for the family, society and the nation. In India, women have been in the forefront of every progressive movement making their mark in each and every walk of life and taking part in the forward march of the nation in a major way. It is our duty to empower the girl child with value based education so that the family, society and ultimately the nation is empowered," he said.

"I wish the women of India health, happiness, safety, success and continued progress as well as prosperity in the years ahead," the President said.